No Hand Bags At Ten Paces

Martin O'Neill has rubbished reports that he is planning showdown talks with Psycho Pearce.

I'm not sure who thought the idea originally up but it's too 'Celebrity Death Match' for me. Martin 'the wee man' O'Neill vs Stuart 'psycho' Pearce.

In fact, no actually that would be quite funny.

But anyway, across the press today O'Neill has talked down any brewing rift with the England U21 manager over the injury to Craig Gardner.

It was a case of hand bags a few months back over Gabby Agbonlahor, so most of the press seem to have jumped on Martin's comments recently to imply that tempers are still flaring between the managers.

Speaking on the official site today, O'Neill said:

'There was a story about a 'spat' with Stuart Pearce. There hasn't been any spat.

'I was disappointed that he (Gardner) got injured in a game that was really meaningless.

'I've not had any run-ins with Stuart Pearce - he's trying to do his job. My gripe was that it was a meaningless game at an important club stage of the season.

'It seems there's not a story unless people can turn it into a conflict. I am not demanding a showdown with Stuart Pearce, but that of course spoils the story.'

So there you have it from O'Neill's mouth, I can't help but think in some subconscious manner though these two are never going to get along and I for one think we will get plenty of similar stories as the months go on.

O'Neill ended by saying:

'If anybody from the FA wants to enquire after the health of Craig Gardner, that's alright. But I won't be chasing anybody.'

Which for me is the most interesting part of the story. Do the FA 'not' check up on players who get injured whilst representing their country?

Surely on their over inflated wages somebody could spend 5 minutes and ask?